Bound Stems, ‘Appreciation Night’ (Flameshovel)

Released at the tail end of last year, Bound Stems’ nerve-splitting hodgepodge EP, The Logic of Building the Body Plan, felt like a significant arrival, a sneak peek at the next Built to Spill. But it’s telling that the best song on the Chicago quintet’s first full-length is “Wake Up, Ma and Pa Are Gone,” a holdover from that record. And while there are some quaint male-female vocals and sandpaper-y guitar fuzz on “Excellent News, Colonel,” it seems that the band’s early promise has left the building.